Damon, Chi-Him Poona; Louis, Wing-Chi Leung

Conference Paper
Effects of narcissism, leisure boredom, and
gratifications sought on user-generated content
among net-generation users

8th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the International Telecommunications Society

(ITS): "Convergence in the Digital Age", Taipei, Taiwan, 26th-28th June, 2011

Provided in Cooperation with:

International Telecommunications Society (ITS)

Suggested Citation: Damon, Chi-Him Poona; Louis, Wing-Chi Leung (2011) : Effects of
narcissism, leisure boredom, and gratifications sought on user-generated content among net-
generation users, 8th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the International Telecommunications
Society (ITS): "Convergence in the Digital Age", Taipei, Taiwan, 26th-28th June, 2011,
International Telecommunications Society (ITS), Calgary

This Version is available at:

https://hdl.handle.net/10419/52316

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Effects of narcissism, leisure boredom, and gratifications sought on
user-generated content among net-generation users
Damon, Chi-Him Poona, Louis, Wing-Chi Leungb
a
M.Sc., School of Journalism & Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
b
Professor, School of Journalism & Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
________________________________________________________________________

ABSTRACT

This research identifies the gratifications sought by the Net-generation when

producing user-generated content (UGC) on the internet. Members of the Net-generation

want to vent negative feelings, show affection to their friends and relatives, be involved in

others’ lives, and fulfill their need to be recognized. These gratifications were all found to be

significantly associated with the users’ various levels of participation in UGC (e.g., Facebook,

YouTube, blogs, online forums, etc.). What's more, narcissism was predictive of content

generation in social networking sites, blogs, and personal webpage, while leisure boredom

was significantly linked to expressing views in forums, updating personal website, and

participating in consumer reviews. In particular, the results showed that Net-geners who

encountered leisure boredom had a higher tendency to seek interaction with friends online.

Implications of findings are discussed.

Key words: Narcissism; leisure boredom; user-generated content; uses and gratifications
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 1

1. Introduction

The internet has become an integral part of the lives of most young adults. It is

flourishing even more in the Web 2.0 era. Users are no longer simply passive recipients of

web contents; they can also be contributors. A number of sites, such as Facebook and

MySpace, invite users all around the globe to share experiences and creative works. Such

content contributed by users is called user-generated content (UGC). In this study, UGC

includes personal contents produced by end-users in multiple social media platforms, such as

Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, blogs, and online forums. This content is unrelated to

ones’ professional work.

UGC on the internet is not merely used for entertainment or passing time, but may

also lead to citizen journalism (Gillmor, 2004) and social movements (Birdsall, 2007). UGCs

on social media and various online applications are popular among the “Net-generation,” that

is, those who were born between the late seventies and mid-nineties (Tapscott, 2009).

Members of the Net-generation (Net-geners), are also called digital natives (Prensky, 2001),

Generation Y (McCrindle, 2002), Millennials (Howe & Strauss, 1992), and even the Post 80s

in China. They are the first generation whose experiences, since their formative years, have

been shaped by digital media. Hence, it is assumed that these people have unique attitudes

towards technology (Kennedy, Dalgarno, Gray, Judd, Waycott, Bennett, Maton, Krause,

Bishop, Chang, & Churchward, 2007). Leung (2003) suggested that attitudes and interests

among Net-geners are diverse, yet they have the same deeply held values. They believe that
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 2

they have equal opportunities to access information and are confident in their innovativeness

and openness to the outside world. In fact, Net-geners actively join discussions on social

issues by generating UGC on the internet. In some countries, such discussions have initiated

and consolidated opposition to government policies.

Employing the uses and gratifications perspective, past studies have examined

Net-geners’ motivations in their use of the internet; however, the UGC production behavior

of Net-geners has not yet been thoroughly explored (Kennedy et al., 2007; Leung, 2003).

Being technologically savvy, Net-geners produce immeasurable amounts of content daily

using social media. However, the extent to which how personality traits (such as narcissism

and leisure boredom) and their gratifications sought affecting their content generation online

are largely unknown.

2. Theories and hypotheses

2.1 Characteristics of the Net-generation

Tapscott (2009) identified Net-geners as youths who adapt to new media and are

outspoken on the net. They are willing to take the initiative to help their society transform

into a more tolerant and open one (Tulgan & Martin, 2001). Net-geners’ enthusiasm for the

internet is driven by various motivations. Previous research has identified “pleasure of

control” and “fluidity of identity” as two properties that seduce Net-geners to the internet.

Net-geners are “emotionally open on the net”; they like to share their emotions with others
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 3

(Leung, 2003; Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005).

The emotions shown by Net-geners on the internet are diverse. Members of the

Net-generation dare to speak out on that with which they are not content with. Net-geners

share their feelings and encourage online discussion. For example, users are keen to vent their

negative feelings on consumer review sites (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh & Gremler,

2004). Politically, Tapsoctt (2009) noted that Net-geners might have negative views on

current regimes and might oppose society’s conservative values. They want to "shake it up"

by being outspoken on the internet, as well as collaborating with politicians. Net-geners use

technology as a means to connect with friends in their real life. (Howe & Strauss, 2000)

Interactions between Net-geners and their friends can be characterized as encouraging,

thanks-giving, and opinion-sharing.

2.2 Gratifications from generating content online

The users’ decision making process in selecting media has been one of the major

topics in technology development (Stafford, Stafford, & Schkade, 2004). The uses and

gratifications (U&G) approach studies the underlying motivations and goals of an audience as

it engages in various forms of media (Leung, 2009). U&G assumes that a particular audience

actively chooses mass media to fulfill its own needs and that the process is goal-directed

(Katz & Blumler 1974). Rosengren (1976) concluded that users’ needs are based on their

social and psychological origins. If their expectations on the media grow, their engagement
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 4

with the media is affected. After using the media, gratifications, expected or unexpected, are

obtained. Past research has identified two major forms of media gratifications: content

gratifications and process gratifications (Cutler & Danowski, 1980; Stafford & Stafford,

1996).

As the internet is media-like in nature, theorists believe that the U&G perspective is

suitable for internet studies (Johnson & Kaye, 2003; Lin, 1999; Weiss, 2001). Ruggiero (2000)

suggested that U&G studies regained their significance after computer-mediated

communication (CMC) became a popular area of research because technologies provide

people with a huge range of media choices; hence, the motivations and satisfactions obtained

were more crucial in the analysis of audiences. Aside from those similar to traditional media,

users may obtain newly identified gratifications such as personal involvement and

relationship bridging and bonding from the internet (Eighmey and McCord, 1998).

Past research on internet use has studied gratifications obtained from the internet in

general (Papacharissi & Rubin 2000) and from specific applications, including e-mail

(Dimmick, Kline & Stafford, 2000), ICQ (Leung, 2001), social networking sites (Dunne,

Lawlor & Rowley, 2010), computer-based voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone service

(Park, 2010), and online community (Lampe, Wash, Velasquez & Ozkaya, 2010). However,

few studies have explored the motivations and gratifications obtained from generating online

content. Leung (2009) found that social needs, cognitive needs, and entertainment needs
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 5

motivate users to produce online content. His study also reasserts that psychological

empowerment can be enhanced by one’s degree of online content generation and by one’s

attitude and behavior in civic engagement offline. Likewise, Hess, Rohrmeier, and Stoeckl

(2007) revealed that video-bloggers are keen on having fun and passing time, while

web-bloggers are keen on disseminating information.

The pursuit of personal identity and the need for recognition have been identified as

gratifications obtained from internet use (Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000) and from generating

content online (Leung, 2009). Park, Kee, and Valenzuela (2009) claimed that status-seeking is

a primary need for those using social networking sites. Grace-Farfaglia, Dekkers,

Sundararajan, Peters, and Park (2006) also identified social support, fame, and respect as the

gratifications obtained by web users in different countries.

Each form of media offers a unique combination of content, typical attributes, and

exposure situations. Therefore, each medium has a unique ability to satisfy users’ various

needs (Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch, 1973). However, U&G studies on Net-geners’ online

UGC production behavior are still scarce; this research aims to fill that gap. Based on the

uses and gratifications framework, this exploratory research extends previous findings and

poses the following research question:

RQ1: What motivates Net-geners to produce content online?

H1: The more gratifying that Net-geners find in online content generation
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 6

experiences, the more they will participate in user-generated content activities.

2.3 Leisure boredom

Boredom is a fleeting emotional state in which someone lacks interest and is unable to

concentrate (Fisher, 1993). In leisure time, if the time is not optimally spent, people may

experience leisure boredom (Iso- Ahola, 1980). Net-geners encounter boredom easily and

need to participate in various activities in order to prevent or overcome it (Harrison, 2005).

Past research found that people who encounter higher levels of leisure boredom are more

likely to be addicted to mobile phones (Leung, 2008). Lin, Lin, and Wu (2009) discovered

that leisure boredom is a possible reason for adolescents' internet addictions; adolescents fond

of family and outdoor leisure activities reported lower levels of internet addiction.

Studies on the relationship between leisure boredom and user-generated content are

rare. As many Net-geners may now contribute content to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogs,

and online forums during their leisure time, it is increasingly pressing to examine the effect of

leisure boredom on their participation in user-generated content online. Thus, we hypothesize

that:

H2a: Subjects who score high on levels of leisure boredom will report a higher

frequency of producing online content.

H2b: Subjects who score high on levels of leisure boredom will find online content

generation experiences more gratifying.

 User-generated Content among Net-generation 7

2.4 Narcissism

Narcissism is the fascination with oneself. Freud (1914) explained that narcissism is

derived from the human instinct for “self-preservation.” Foster and Campbell (2007)

suggested that narcissism is part of social psychology. They found that all people are

narcissistic in some way. Brown, Budzek, and Tamborski (2009) supported that narcissism is

dimensional and not categorical, with grandiosity and entitlement as the two most general

clusters. Campbell and Foster (2007) conducted a literature review on narcissism and

concluded that several of the values of narcissists include: thinking they are better than others;

unusually inflated praise of themselves; the belief that they are unique and special; and often

selfish and success-oriented.

Some researchers believe that young people are becoming increasingly narcissistic.

Twenge, Konrath, Foster, Campbell, and Bushman (2008) conducted a survey among a

sample of over 16,000 college students over time and found that recent subjects are more

narcissistic than those from 1979. The respondents' mean score in the Narcissism Personality

Inventory had increased by .33 standard deviations in 27 years’ time. In some ways,

narcissism has encouraged online activities. Buffardi and Campbell (2008) found that

narcissism predicts higher participation in social networking sites, such as Facebook. The

online content generated might reflect the producer’s level of narcissism. Thus, we

hypothesize that:
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 8

H3a: Subjects who are more narcissistic will report a higher frequency of online

content production.

H3b: Subjects who are more narcissistic will find online content generation

experiences more gratifying.

Furthermore, this exploratory also inquires:

RQ2: How are gratifications sought from UGC predicted by demographics, leisure

boredom, and narcissism among Net-geners?

RQ3: To what extent can demographics, motives for online content generation, leisure

boredom, and narcissism in Net-geners predict their participation in producing online

content?

3. Methodology

3.1 Data collection and sampling

Data for this exploratory study were gathered using an online survey on

www.my3q.com with a snowball sampling of 344 Net-geners, aged 13–33 years.1 The

questionnaire was pilot tested prior to the actual fieldwork. The actual questionnaire was

posted online between March and April, 2010. Among the respondents, 47.4% were male,

and 63.7 % had a median monthly personal income of under US$1 290. Regarding education,

1.5% of the respondents had completed elementary school, 25% had completed high school,

1
According to Tapscott (2009). Net-geners were born approximately between the late seventies and
mid-nineties.
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 9

5.8% had obtained associate degrees, and 67.7% were university graduates or above.

3.2 Measures

3.2.1 Gratifications of internet content generation

In early 2010, a focus group comprised of 12 Net-geners was conducted to assess

their gratifications sought in online content generation. Results were combined with similar

gratification items found in a number of previous U&G studies, including predictors of

internet use (Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000), Net-geners’ attributes and internet use (Leung,

2003), online consumer-opinion platforms (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004), and user-generated

content on the internet (Leung, 2009). The final questionnaire consisted of 20 gratification

statements. Respondents were asked how much they agreed with the items using a five-point

Likert scale with 1 = “strongly disagree” and 5 = “strongly agree.”

3.2.2 Leisure boredom

Leisure boredom was measured using a short version of the Leisure Boredom Scale,

developed by Iso-Ahola and Weissinger (1987). Five relevant items were extracted from the

original 20-item scale, such as “In my leisure, I usually don’t like what I’m doing, but I don’t

know what else to do,” and “leisure time activities do not excite me.” A five-point Likert

scale was used with 1 = “strongly disagree” and 5 = “strongly agree.” The Cronbach’s alpha

was modestly high at .79.

3.2.3 Narcissism
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 10

To assess narcissism, an established scale, called Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI)

was used. Raskin and Hall (1979) developed NPI in order to measure differences in

narcissism among individual who are not narcissistic. Raskin and Terry (1988) then

discovered that the original 40-item inventory could be divided into seven components.

However, to make the questionnaire more manageable, only five items were extracted from

the inventory in this research with statements such as “I really like to be the center of

attention” and “I want to amount to something in the eyes of the world.” A five-point Likert

scale was also used with 1 = “strongly disagree” and 5 = “strongly agree.” These items

yielded a reasonably high reliability alpha of .78.

3.2.4 User-generated content

Respondents were then asked about their perceived level of participation in publishing

various forms of user-generated content online. The six main forms of UGC included: social

networking sites, video sites, blogs, personal web-pages, forums, and consumer reviews.

Respondents self-reported their perceptions in their level in content generation online on a

five-point scale with 1 = “never,” 2 = “seldom,” 3 = “neutral,” 4 = “often,” and 5 = “very

often.” Table 1 shows that content generation on social networking sites is the most popular

(with a mean score of 3.74), video sites came second (M = 2.88), blogging came third (M =

2.75), and personal web-pages (M = 2.06) were the least popular.

(* Insert Table 1 about here *)

 User-generated Content among Net-generation 11

3.2.5 Particiaption in overall online content generation

Respondents were asked to cumulatively estimate the amount of time they participated

in content generation online on an average day in the previous week (in minutes).

3.2.6 Demographics

Personal data, such as gender, education, and personal income were solicited.

4. Results

4.1 The motives of Net-geners in generating online contents

To answer the first research question, a principal components factor analysis with

varimax rotation was run to determine the potential groupings of 20 motivation items on

UGC among the Net-geners. With low communalities, two items were excluded from the

analysis. The remaining 18 items yielded four factors with an eigenvalue greater than 1.0, and

explained 61.02% of the variance (see Table 2).

The first factor was “affection,” which showed how Net-geners’ online content

generation was motivated by the intention to encourage others, help others, disclose their own

feelings, and thank others. The Cronbach’s reliability alpha of the five items was high at .90.

The second factor was “recognition needs” (alpha = .83). This factor consisted of five

statements reflecting that, in producing content online, Net-geners hoped to establish a

personal identity, build confidence, promote or publicize expertise, and gain respect.
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 12

“Inclusion” was the third factor (alpha = .76), revealing that Net-geners generated online

content because they needed to talk or be with someone, needed to talk about their problems,

and needed to feel involved with other people’s affairs. The last factor was “venting negative

feelings” (alpha = .74), articulating how respondents saw producing content online as an

opportunity to deal with their negative feelings, to voice discontent, to fight injustice, and to

vent anger.

In sum, the four factors are conceptually consistent with the theoretical expectations

of the previous studies in our literature review. Generally, Net-geners are concerned about

their friends and they like to show affection to others. In addition, Net-geners want to be

involved in others’ lives and are emotionally open. They are in need of recognition and hope

to gain confidence, respect, and support, and they find promoting their own expertise

satisfying. Net-geners do not hide their negative feelings; they are willing to express them as

a method of relief.

(* Insert 2 about here *)

4.2 Relating Gratifications to UGC Online

To test H1 that the more gratifying that Net-geners find online content generation

experiences, the more they will participate in user-generated content activities online, a

bivariate correlation analysis was run (see Table 3). The results show that affection (r = .15, p
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 13

< .01), recognition needs (r = .21, p < .001), inclusion (r = .25, p < .001), and venting

negative feelings (r = .22, p < .001) were significantly associated with overall participation in

UGC. Bivariate correlations between gratifications sought and specific UGC platforms also

support such results. For example, venting negative feelings was found significantly related

to content generation in social networking sites (r = .13, p <.05), on video sites (r = .15, p

<.01), in blogs (r = .18, p <.001), on personal web-pages (r = .18, p <.001), in forums (r = .16,

p <.01), and in writing reviews (r = .16, p <.01).

(* Insert Table 3 about here *)

Similarly, the results in Table 3 also show that the more Net-geners’ motivation for

using UGC was inclusion, the more content they would produce on personal web-pages (r

= .21, p <.001), in forums (r = .22, p <.001), and in writing consumer reviews (r = .16, p

<.01). Likewise, the more they reported UGC was for recognition, the more they would

participate in blogs (r = .17, p <.001), personal web-pages (r = .11, p <.05), and forums (r

= .12, p <.05). The more they used UGC to show affection, the more active they would be on

social networking sites (r = .26, p <.001), such as Facebook and MySpace. Therefore, H1 is

fully supported.

4.3 Relating Leisure Boredom to UGC Online and Gratifications

H2a proposed that subjects who score high on level of leisure boredom will report a
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 14

higher frequency of online content production. The results in Table 3 show that leisure

boredom was not significantly related to the overall amount of UGC participation. However,

leisure boredom was found significantly and positively correlated to content generation on

personal web-pages (r = .23, p <.001), in forums (r = .22, p <.001), and in writing consumer

reviews (r = .16, p <.01), and negatively linked to social networking sites (r = -.13, p <.05).

Thus, H2a receives only limited support.

H2b hypothesized that subjects who score high on level of leisure boredom will find

online content generation experiences more gratifying. The bivariate correlation results in

Table 4 show that leisure boredom was significantly and negatively correlated to affection (r

= -.23, p <.001), but positively related to inclusion (r = .20, p <.001). Therefore, H2b is

rejected.

(* Insert Table 4 about here *)

4.4 Relating Narcissism to UGC Online and Gratifications

H3a proposed that subjects who are more narcissistic will report a higher frequency of

online content production. The results in Table 3 indicate that narcissism was significantly

associated with overall participation in UGC (r = .19, p <.001). In particular, it is significantly

linked to content generation in social networking sites (r = .17, p <.001), blogs (r = .25, p

<.001), personal web-pages (r = .19, p <.001), and forums (r = .12, p <.05). Thus, H3a is fully
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 15

supported.

H3b proposed that subjects who are more narcissistic will find online content

generation experiences more gratifying. The correlation results in Table 4 reveal a significant

relationship only between narcissism and recognition (r = .18, p <.001). Therefore, H3b

receives limited support.

4.5 Predicting gratifications sought in UGC

The regression results in Table 4 show that leisure boredom is significantly and

negatively linked to affection (β = -.23, p < .001), but positively related to inclusion (β = .21,

p < .001). This indicates that Net-geners who scored high in leisure boredom would be less

likely to show others encouragement and to let others know they care about their feelings.

However, leisurely bored individuals would be more gratified if they could talk to or be with

someone, talk about their problems, and feel involved with what is going on with other

people. Narcissistic individuals were also found significantly associated with recognition

seeking (β = .17, p < .001) and venting negative feelings (β = .11, p < .05) in UGC. This

suggests that narcissistic individuals use UGC to build up confidence, establish personal

identity, gain respect and support, promote or publicize their expertise, voice discontent about

injustice, and vent anger. Females were gratified more by inclusion (β= -.16, p＜.01), while

income and education were not predictors for any of the gratifications. Amount of variances

explained ranged from 2% to 6%.

 User-generated Content among Net-generation 16

4.6 Predicting the level of UGC generation

The regression results in Table 3 show that all gratifications were significantly linked

to overall participation in UGC. Respondents who scored high in inclusion (β = .24, p＜.001),

venting negative feelings (β = .20, p＜.001), recognition needs (β = .18, p＜.001), and

affection (β = .16, p＜.01) tended to report that they actively participated in UGC. Such

results indicate that Net-geners who spend a large amount of time generating online content

were motivated by their desire to voice their dissatisfaction, gain recognition from others, and

to be involved in their friends’ lives.

In particular, while looking into UGC activities in various applications, individuals

who were active in social network sites tended to be motivated by affection (β = .22, p＜.001)

and venting negative feelings (β = .12, p＜.05), were low in leisure boredom (β = -.13, p

＜.05), and high in narcissism (β = .16, p＜.01). Video sites, such as YouTube for viewing or

posting videos, tended to be used by individuals with high income (β = .12, p＜.05) and for

venting negative feelings (β = .13, p＜.05). Heavy blog users tended to be narcissistic

individuals (β = .25, p＜.001) who sought recognition (β = .17, p＜.001) and wanted to vent

negative feelings (β = .15, p＜.01). Individuals creating and maintaining a personal webpage

tended to be leisurely bored (β = .23, p＜.001), narcissistic (β = .12, p＜.05), and motivated

by inclusion (β = .14, p＜.01) and venting negative feelings (β = .14, p＜.01). People who

were active in forums tended to be males with a great deal of free leisure time and bored (β
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 17

= .22, p＜.001), motivated to produce UGC by inclusion (β = .21, p＜.001), recognition (β

= .11, p＜.05), and voicing discontent (β = .15, p＜.01). Those who liked to be online critics

were motivated by venting negative feelings (β = .13, p＜.01), inclusion (β = .12, p＜.05),

and were bored with a great deal of free time (β = .19, p＜.001). Amount of variance

explained ranged from 1% to 18%.

5. Conclusions

5.1 Conclusions and discussion

This study successfully identified four motivations that influence the generation of

online content by Net-geners: affection, recognition needs, inclusion, and venting negative

feelings. The results confirm the characterization of Net-geners from previous research: 1)

recognition is an important gratification sought in producing UGC online (Leung, 2009); 2)

Net-geners connect and socialize with friends via various technologies (Howe & Strauss,

2000); 3) Net-geners do not hesitate to speak out on what they feel is unjust (Tapscott, 2009);

and 4) Net-geners are emotionally open on the net (Leung, 2003; Oblinger & Oblinger,

2005).

Apart from the four motivations mentioned above, Net-geners’ personality traits are the

other determining factors influencing them to produce UGC online. Net-geners who reported

higher levels of leisure boredom produced more UGC in some applications, such as personal
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 18

web-pages, forums, and consumer reviews. This explains the notion that leisure boredom

may be a possible reason for adolescents' internet addictions (Lin, Lin & Wu, 2009). In

addition, the result that Net-geners who reported a higher level of leisure boredom were more

motivated by inclusion and less for affection may be explained by the fact that leisurely bored

Net-geners found UGC an effective means to relief boredom through interpersonal

interaction in their preferred social medium, to build friendships or seek companions.

As expected, the level of narcissism predicted the level of participation in UGC,

especially in social networking sites. The use of blogs was also predicted by narcissism. Such

results indicate that narcissists like to show their talents, gain recognition, and promote their

expertise. These findings are in line with Raskin and Terry (1988) showing that narcissism is

significantly linked to higher levels of social activity in the online community and more

self-promoting content on social networking web pages.

It is interesting to note that Net-geners sought different gratifications from various

UGC platforms. In particular, venting negative feelings was the most powerful gratification

for content generation on blogs and personal web-pages. This may be because these platforms

are less interactive, which allows more room for the users to present themselves in an

asynchronous fashion. Some Net-geners may voice their dissatisfaction against social

injustice online. Society should pay attention to such voices, because negative views may

quickly diffuse through the internet. As many may seek guidance from political information
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 19

online, views on the internet may quickly transform into mobilizing power for the Net-geners

(Kaye & Johnson, 2002).

Affection was the only strong predictor for the use of social networking sites. As the

main use of these sites is communication among friends, it is logical that Net-geners would

want to show affection on such sites. Besides, the recognition needs of Net-geners do affect

their contributions to forums and blogs. Among the UGC platforms, personal web-pages

provide the largest degree of freedom, but they also require the highest level of technical skill.

Net-geners can showcase their artwork, design, and programming skills on their pages in

order to gain respect from others.

Demographics were shown to have little effect on UGC production level among

Net-geners. However, one interesting finding is that income level acts as a strong positive

predictor of content generation in online review sites, such as restaurant reviews. This may

mean that people with greater spending power have more consumption experience, or that

they consider themselves superior and more qualified to comment. The “digital divide”

between Net-geners is narrowing. The limited effect of demographics on participation in

UGC showed that, as computer hardware and broadband are becoming more affordable, more

Net-geners are turning to UGC to satisfy their social and psychological needs. The diversity

of content that Net-geners can produce is also appealing to most members of this generation.

Therefore, it is shown that Net-geners have fairly equal opportunities and interests in
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 20

contributing to UGC online.

5.2 Limitations and suggestions for future research

Although the U&G framework is, as expected, a set of well-established media use

predictors, further research on this issue is worthy of consideration. For example, content

analysis of UGC may help to further explain the limited amount of variance in the regression

analyses. “Venting negative feelings” was one of motivation in this research; however, the

examination of the expression of “positive” feelings is also important for the establishment of

a comprehensive typology in the gratification of UGC on the internet. In addition, researchers

in politics and marketing may be interested in identifying which UGC platforms contain more

negative views, and studying the characteristics of the content on these platforms.

Researchers might examine to what degree audiences of these platforms may be affected by

the content. Future research may also study the extent to which Net-geners mobilize their

friends online by UGC.

Mobile communication is not only an important aspect of technological trends in the

21st century, but it may also impact UGC (Hanson & Baldwin, 2007). The physical venues of

producing UGC were not investigated in this research, so the relationship between UGC and

mobile technology is worth exploring.

A number of limitations should be recognized in this study. First, this exploratory

study employed snowball sampling, based in Hong Kong, and was biased toward university
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 21

educated, so generalization of the results to the global population may not be justified. It is

suggested that future studies explore other settings to compare cultures. Second, this research

was cross-sectional and only tested the relationships between variables. Follow-up research is

recommended to investigate the causal relationships between these variables. Furthermore,

the study asked respondents to self-report their perceived participation level in terms of time

spent producing UGC. Future studies may evaluate the volume of content produced.
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 22

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 User-generated Content among Net-generation 29

Table 1. User-generated content online

User-Generated Content Mean SD

1. Social Networking (e.g., Facebook) 3.74 1.23

2. Video Sites (e.g., YouTube) 2.88 1.32
3. Blogs (e.g., Windows Live, Twitter) 2.75 1.22
4. Personal web-page 2.06 1.13
5. Forums 2.56 1.24
6. Online reviews (e.g., OpenRice, ESDLife) 2.19 1.15

Scale used: 1=never, 2=seldom, 3=neutral, 4=often, and 5=very often; (N=344)
 User-generated Content among Net-generation 30

Table 2. Net-geners’ gratifications for producing UGC online

Factors
I generate content online… Mean SD
1 2 3 4

Affection
1. To show others encouragement .89 3.79 1.01
2. To let others know I care about their
.83 3.71 1.03
feelings
3. Because I am concerned about others .80 3.54 1.03
4. To help others .79 3.57 1.03
5. To thank others .75 3.75 .97

Recognition needs
6. To build up my confidence .77 2.80 1.00
7. To establish my personal identity .75 3.02 1.13
8. To gain respect and support .73 3.23 1.02
9. Because it is satisfying .72 3.29 1.10
10. To promote or publicize my expertise .67 3.11 1.06

Inclusion
11. Because I need someone to talk to or be
.86 3.13 1.03
with
12. Because I just need to talk about my
.85 3.30 1.04
problems sometimes
13. To feel involved with what’s going on with
.62 2.86 .96
other people
14. To understand myself and others .55 3.42 .97

Venting Negative Feelings

15. To voice discontent .82 3.39 1.03
16. To fight injustice .78 3.22 1.03
17. Because someone hurt me and I wish to
.70 2.36 1.08
hurt him back
18. To vent anger .61 3.08 1.18

Eigenvalue 6.07 2.74 2.06 1.33

Variance explained 30.35 13.71 10.31 6.65
Cronbach’s Alpha .90 .83 .76 .74
Scale used: 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree; (N=344)
 User-generated content and the Net-generation 31

Table 3. Linear regression of demographics, gratifications, and Net-geners attributes on user-generated content

Participation in User-Generated Content

Predictors Overall UGC Social Video Personal Consumer
Blogs Forums
(minutes/day) networking sites web-page Reviews
r β r β r β r β r β r β r β
Demographics
Gender (male=1) -.05 .03 -.12* -.05 -.02 -.02 -.10 -.07 -.12* -.10 .10 .13* -.11 -.08
Education .11 .04 .14** .07 .00 -.03 .04 .02 .01 .00 .00 .02 .16** .10
Income .09 .11* .10 .08 .10 .12* -.09 -.06 -.04 .00 -.04 -.01 .21*** .22***

Gratifications
Affection .15** .16** .26*** .22*** .03 .04 .09 .08 -.02 .00 .12* -.07 .00 .02
Recognition .21*** .18*** .03 -.01 -.01 -.01 .17*** .13* .11* .08 .12* .11* .09 .07
Inclusion .25*** .24*** .06 .06 .02 .00 .09 .04 .21*** .14** .22*** .21*** .16** .12*
Vent negative feelings .22*** .20*** .13* .12* .15** .13* .18*** .15** .18*** .14** .16** .15** .16** .13*

Net-geners’ attributes
Leisure boredom .07 .07 -.13* -.13* .06 .06 .09 .09 .23*** .23*** .22*** .22*** .19*** .19***
Narcissism .19*** .11 .17*** .16** .05 .04 .25*** .19*** .19*** .12* .12* .04 .06 .01

R2 .20 .14 .04 .13 .14 .14 .15

2
Adjusted R .18 .12 .01 .10 .12 .12 .13

*p ≦ .05; **p ≦ .01; *** p ≦ .001; (N=344)

Scale used: 1 = “never,” 2 = “seldom,” 3 = “neutral,” 4 = “often,” and 5 = “very often”
 User-generated content and the Net-generation 32

Table 4. Regressing gratifications sought on demographics and Net-geners’ attributes

Gratifications Sought
Predictors Venting negative
Affection Recognition Inclusion
feelings
r β r β r β r β
Demographics
Gender (male=1) -.13* -.10 -.24 -.01 -.15** -.16** -.26 -.04
Education .12* .10 .13* .13 -.03 -.56 -.02 -.05
Income .01 -.04 -.01 -.02 -.06 -.34 .06 .10

Attributes
Leisure boredom -.23*** -.23*** .02 .01 .20*** .21*** .09 .09
Narcissism .01 .03 .18*** .17** .06 .04 .10 .11*

R2 .08 .05 .07 .03

Adjusted R2 .06 .04 .06 .02
*p ≦ .05; **p ≦ .01; *** p ≦ .001; (N=344)